Tynecastle to be relaid with £1m hybrid pitch

Hearts have announced plans to relay the pitch at Tynecastle at the end of the season.

The club will continue the redevelopment of the ground by spending “close to a million pounds” to lay a new state-of-the-art pitch.

It represents another significant outlay for the club who had the main stand rebuilt last summer, a project that reportedly cost up to £15 million and took longer than expected to be completed.

Manager Craig Levein said on Saturday following their 2-0 Ladbrokes Premiership win over Aberdeen that the grass was improving after the state of the pitch had previously been criticised.

But the club have announced plans to begin work after the final home league match of the season – against Edinburgh rivals Hibernian on Wednesday 9 May – with work expected to take up to ten weeks.

A statement on the club website said: “We are delighted to be in a position to confirm that the club will install a state of the art hybrid pitch at Tynecastle Park.

“This will be the first full pitch relay at tyne castle for approximately 20 years, and with a new undersoil heating and irrigation system to be installed at the same time, a huge amount of work will be undertaken at a significant cost to the club.

“Given the wear and tear the current pitch has suffered over the past few seasons, this new hybrid pitch is a necessity and we look forward to its completion, and giving Craig and the first team the best playing surface possible.”

The statement added: “Following a period of study, the club has appointed STRI to project manage the installation and we look forward to working with them, along with Carrick Sports Construction Ltd and SIS UK/SISGRASS.”

Levein welcomed the news, saying: “The whole investment isn’t far off a seven-figure sum. Again, it shows the commitment from Ann [Budge] that she wants to try to help on the footballing front as well as everything else.”